Is anyone else planning NOT to do the pink or blue thing?

Question

I'm not - there is enough sexist nonsense bombarding kids without me trying to force them into a gender stereotype from birth... Thoughts?

Anthony - I will love my child whatever they turn out like...

I also prefer bright colours over pastels and as for Disney branded Winnie the Pooh stuff -NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Why would it matter if I had to say to a few folk - no she's a girl, or no, he's a boy? It's certainly not going to bother the baby and it isn't going to bother me. I just think that as well as the sexism thing it's pretty naff.

I really, REALLY hope my child has something a bit richer to reflect back on about their childhood and never utters the words "I loved my childhood because of disney". Jeez oh.

Answer 1

My husband and I opted to be surprised with our first child - told the ultrasound techs definitively that we did not want to know the sex. Our nursery was a neutral beige, with navy, hunter and burgundy accents - which we didn't choose, but just happened to inherit from our home's previous owners.

We ended up with a girl, and I'm not a really big fan of the color pink, but I did eventually reach a point where NOT buying pink colored items started to severly restrict what I was able to buy in terms of clothes - you can usually find fairly unisex selections through about 9mo sizes (lots and lots of ducky prints!), but from there on, most clothing companies tend towards bold/dark colors for boys and light/pastels for girls. I did occasionally just go ahead any buy 'boy' clothes that I thought were really cute, figuring that I wouldn't be offended if a stranger made a mistake, and my daughter wouldn't care for quite a while.

I'm now the happy mom of a lovely and simultaneously tomboyish and girly three year old. If you see the mud-covered up-the-tree hellion in the pink tutu and sparkly shoes - that would be my girl.

My advice - buy what you like, but be ready for the day that your toddler tells you in no uncertain terms what THEIR favorite color is, and from then on, for your own sanity, buy what they will be willing to wear!

Answer 2

When I have children, I plan on doing the bright crayon colors thing. (blue, red, yellow, orange, purple). I am sure that if I have little girls I will have an uncontrollable urge to put them in beautiful flowery dresses alot of the time, but it's not going to be the first thought on my mind. I also think the gender stereotyping gets more important as the child gets older. So they'll choose thier own clothes and if they want to switch it up a little I don't think I'm going to freak. My future hubby probably will though, and at least one set of grandparents. They will have lots of toy choices, and if my son wants to push a doll around in a stroller well I'm not going to give him grief over it. My brother did this when he was three, and mostly it was his teddy bear. He pretended it was a wounded soilder, or sometimes he would pretend curious george was his baby. My grandmother actually bought him a little boy baby doll once, too. When my parents bought the stroller for him (after he pushed it all around a toy store with another little boy), the other little boy's mom flipped. The whole strollers are for girls speech. Today my brother is a fairly well-adjusted fifteen year old, with no obvious gender dysphoria (although after teasing him mercilessly, I wouldn't have a problem with that).

I also wanted to add that the parents are the ones who usually feel uncomfortable withnot gender stereotyping. Right now I am in a Human Sexuality class, and we have learned that people don't know how to relate to children or at least feel very uncomfortable if they don't know the child's gender. So they assign one. If they see a girl baby dressed in blue, and there aren't obvious girly signs...it's quite easy for the baby to be mistaken for a boy. Nobody likes to say "What a nice baby !" and if they are unsure they will ask "Boy or girl ?". Imagine what a hard time parents with intersex kids have. This is often the cause for sexreassignment surgery (the parents' discomfort).

Answer 3

I'm with you on this, why is it pink for girls and blue for boys anyway, who came up with that? Pink is so in your face and blue is such a cold colour.

I've done my nursery in yellow and mint green, a classic Winnie the Pooh line with Mothercare. I hate the Disney Winnie the Pooh stuff.

Buying clothes are OK but most places seems to stick with the pink and blue thing. I've gone for pastel colours and just picked up what I though would look nice, whatever the colour.

Answer 4

There is absolutely nothing wrong with teaching children from the start that boys and girls are different. That said, I also believe in letting the children have a choice as soon as they're old enough. I have two daughters. One (6 yrs old) loves clothes in all their varieties, the most important thing to her is whether it's comfortable and fits. The other (4 yrs old) only wears dresses because she insists that princesses don't wear pants (even though we've showed her pictures of real princesses and cartoon princesses in pants, she adamant on this subject). And I have no idea where the I'm a princess thing came from. I am fully a tomboy, always have been, and have no idea how to handle such a feminine daughter. LOL

But, back to blue and pink. One of the easiest ways to distinguish boy and girl babies is by the color they are wearing. It's not like they have breasts or facial hair to help us out. And it's so embarrassing when a child is dressed in a traditionally boy or girl outfit, you say they look cute with a he/she thrown in and the parent gets bent out of shape about it. If you want to dress them in neutral clothes and are going to get miffed if someone labels them the wrong sex, put a sign on them identifying their gender for the nice person that wants to pay you or them a compliment for pete's sake!

But I do agree about the commercialization. The only name brand stuff my kids have gotten have been gifts. Everything I buy is store, just as good as anyone else brand. LOL Well, except for Gap. My older daughter is VERY skinny, but tall. So it was really hard to find pants that were long enough and didn't slide off her hips. The only place we could find them was Gap because they had adjustable waist bands. Thankfully, Wal-mart recently started carrying similar styled pants, so we can get them for a lot cheaper now.

EDIT:
Good for you on simply correcting the person giving the compliment. I have witnessed many parents go absolutely ape if their child is called by the wrong sex.

Answer 5

My son wore tonnes of pink sleepers and even some girly outfits (like overalls with the wrong kind of pleats or diaper shirts with a bow). All my hand-me-downs were from girls.

I am sure it has deeply scarred him for life.

Also his nursery is still moss green from when it was a studio and all the guitars are still on the wall. Though there are Pooh stickers on the wall by his crib. I guess it is kinda manly but not really "boyish".

I just go with the flow, really. Would I put him in a frilly dress probably not, other than that, who cares? Nothing else was bought specifically boy either.

Answer 6

I'm not a fan of pink to begin with, but I've found quite a few pink pairs of clothing I like for my little girl. But I've picked out far more things in a variety of colors because I see it this way: I like the color blue, and I'm a girl. Green is actually my favorite color.

Why should blue be gender specific? Pink's not! I'd have to admit to being embarrassed at the thought of dressing up a little boy up in a pink onesie!

Her room is painted blue because I like a celestial theme, with the sun, moon, stars, clouds, etc. I actually looked at my registries yesterday, and there's so little pink in there, I'm waiting for someone to say, "What's with all the non-girl colors?"

Answer 7

I think that the biggest reason for the pink/blue thing is so that people can tell, by looking at the clothing, whether the baby is a boy or girl. I have a friend who dressed her daughter in yellow and a lady came up to her in the store and said "oh, what a beautiful son you have!" She now tries to dress her baby in purple or at least a purple hat or something with flowers so people can distinguish.

Answer 8

Sometimes the pink or blue thing is essential if you have a baby that doesn't look girly or boyey! It will only take one or two comments of 'isn't he lovely' before the pink is whipped out, or 'doesn't she look like her dad' and the blue will certainly come out in all shades!!
Besides anything else, nice neutral coloured clothes, or even good strong coloured baby clothes can be hard to find.
I don't have a problem with pink or blue, it has saved me making wrong comments plenty of times......

Answer 9

I hate pink and blue. I thought I was having a girl so I decorated the nursery in baby cheetah. When MY SON was born I had to change it up a bit. I added some lions and bears to the room. It turned out really cute. The walls are a warm beige type color and all the cheetah and bedding are neutral colors. Very warm and calming.

Answer 10

I understand what you are talking about. I am having a girl and I wanted to avoid pink. I am not a big fan of pink and I think it is just sooooo overdone on little girls. My babies room is yellow, purple, blue and green. They are pastels, but that is my personal preference. Everyone kept saying to me well at least her going home out fit is going to be pink right? Well no it isn't it is white and very cute might I add. However, we do own pink. I caved on a pink car seat for my boyfriend and regardless of my pleas for asking for other colors than pink, that is what everyone bought. I was ticked at first, because a lot of people did it because they said little girls need pink. I think that is rubbish, who really cares if my kid wears yellow, blue, green or whatever. So in the end I said thank you, but you will still see her in more of other colors and once in awhile she will be in pink. :)